Justin Elicker: New Haven’s future depends on its schools

By Justin Elicker

Published
4:01 pm EDT, Sunday, October 20, 2013

The city of New Haven and its teachers negotiated a contract of which the city has been rightfully proud. That collective bargaining agreement served as a lesson and a model to other cities and towns in Connecticut and beyond, exemplifying what can be done when everyone works with the best interest of the city’s children as their primary concern.

That contract was an accord that I, as an alderman and a candidate for mayor, held up as a great example of collaborative leadership and change in New Haven. Now, almost four years later, the same parties are negotiating again.

When it comes to our schools, New Haven has accomplished so much. That contract was a major step in the right direction, as was the system of teacher evaluation and development created and implemented under Garth Harries, now our superintendent of schools.

The appointment of Harries was another success for the city, and I was proud to support him for the position. Harries has already begun to implement changes that parents have requested for years including increasing equity and transparency in school enrollment and recess for all New Haven elementary schools.

But there is still so much work to be done.

Thanks to the advocacy of concerned parents, New Haven will become home to the Elm City Montessori School the only local charter school in Connecticut. Two schools — first High School in the Community and now Wilbur Cross — were granted admittance into the Commissioner’s Network, opening up funding and programmatic possibilities that were not available before.

I want to be New Haven’s next mayor because I believe in the steps we have taken thus far, and believe I am the right candidate to lead the city into the future.

The key to a successful future in New Haven’s schools will be the unconventional thinking and flexibility that marked our school district’s recent past and an ability to partner with organizations offering innovative approaches to education.

And make no mistake: Education is at the core of all New Haven’s problems and the key to its solutions. Members of the clergy, like Varick Memorial’s Rev. Eldren Morrison have rightly recognized the correlation between education and public safety. A child in the classroom is not a child on the street.

Economic development, too, rests on educational growth. If we are to create and maintain a workforce that can build New Haven’s future, we must first teach them how to read, how to count, how to write, and the grit and perseverance every employer desires.

New Haven’s future depends on New Haven’s schools. An investment in our students is an investment in our city.